


cause the big dog's moving in

by Anonymous



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Clifford the Big Red Dog, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Dogs, F/M, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 13:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30072603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Murphy's new roommate came with a dog, which was really the best kind of bonus."He's a red lab," Octavia had told him when he'd asked.  "And he's big."Murphy had seen labs before and while, yeah, they were decently large, they weren'tthatbig, but, really, he was just excited to have a dog by association.Maybe he should have asked for at least pictures or something, though, because he definitely hadn't anticipated just howbigOctavia's big red dog really was.
Relationships: Octavia Blake/John Murphy
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: TROPED: Madness 2.0





	cause the big dog's moving in

**Author's Note:**

> Troped 2.0 Round 1 here we go!
> 
> Character: Octavia!  
> Theme: New Adult!  
> Trope 1: Roommates!  
> Trope 2: Based on a Children's Book Series! (Clifford the Big Red Dog, if the summary wasn't clear enough)
> 
> Title is from Move It On Over by Hank Williams.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

Murphy first met Octavia at a party.

He was sober, because having a mom who drank herself to death made alcohol a lot less appealing, but Octavia was decidedly not.

She dropped into the seat next to him, just slightly too close on the couch, drink in hand and hair swinging.

“You need a roommate,” she declared, eyes wide as she gestured between the him and herself. “I need a room. It’s, like, fucking destiny or something!”

“Right,” he agreed, glancing around for an out. “Destiny.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to this random girl. She was hot, and he’d lost track of the, like, three people he knew here. But she for some reason knew he was looking for a roommate, and she seemed drunk enough to be pretty persuasive, and he was too sober to really be able to argue.

“Who are you?” he added, once he realized there wasn’t an out anywhere nearby.

“Octavia,” the girl said, like it should be obvious. She adjusted her position, leaning even closer as her eyes opened even wider. “So Jasper says your place is dog friendly, which is great, cause I, like, have a dog. And obviously Helios would be moving in with us too.”

Jasper. Of course it would be one of the few people he’d told he was considering asking someone to move into one of his spare rooms that would find some random, hot, drunk chick to move into his house.

She had a dog though. That was a mark in the plus column. The hotness factor was still on the fence.

“Helios?” he repeated, because he was still trying to catch up in this conversation.

“My dog,” she said, rolling her eyes. “So. We can move in tomorrow?”

“No.” Murphy shook his head. “You’re drunk. I’m not gonna let you make life decisions while wasted. Give me your phone and I’ll put my number in, and if you’re still interested when you’re sober, you can text me or something and we’ll talk then.”

She pouted at him for a long moment, and then agreed. He put his number into her phone and then she was off the couch, yelling at someone about a beer pong rematch.

After that, he honestly kind of forgot about Octavia. He made sure that Jasper knew that telling drunk girls they could move in with him was not a cool move, and he really wasn’t expecting anything to come of giving Octavia his number. What girl wakes up sober and then decides that propositioning a guy for a spare room is still a good idea?

Three days later, though, he got a text from an unknown number.

_Hey. Its Octavia. You might remember me as the girl trying to move in with you the other night. Sorry about that. Jasper swears you’re not a creep, though, and I promise I’m not a creep either, so if you were actually serious about talking about it, I’m sober now._

Jasper confirmed that Octavia was not a creep, and she showed up to check out the house the next day.

“How does someone in university have enough money to own a house?” she wondered as she checked out one of his spare bedrooms.

“I don’t,” he said, awkwardly shoving his hands into his pockets. “Hence why I need to rent out a room.” He sighed, leaning back against the wall. “My parents are dead. This house was one of the only things they left me. It’s way too expensive, but it’s easier than trying to find a place to rent. I’m selling it as soon as I graduate.”

Octavia pulled her head out of the closet, looking at him over her shoulder. “I’m—”

“Don’t,” he interrupted, waving her off. “Don’t say your sorry. They’ve been dead for a while. It’s fine.”

“I was actually gonna say both my parents are dead, too,” Octavia said, raising a brow at him. “I mean, I don’t know about my dad. Never met him. But my mom died when I was eleven. My brother raised me. So I was just gonna say I get it, and I actually mean that.”

“Oh,” Murphy said, and left it at that. He wasn’t particularly great with words.

“So the place looks great,” Octavia said once they’d finished the tour. “The backyard is amazing and perfect for Helios.”

“What kind of dog is he?” Murphy asked, because he’d forgotten to ask. Helios was definitely one of the biggest reasons Octavia was his top contender for roommate. The other was that she was his _only_ contender, but that was neither here nor there.

“He’s a red lab,” Octavia said, suddenly not looking him in the eyes, instead picking at a string on her sweater. “And he’s big.”

Murphy hadn’t heard of a red lab—yellow, yes, and chocolate, and black, but not red—but he had _seen_ labs. They weren’t _that_ big, but, even if they were, they were still dogs.

“I love big dogs,” he told Octavia, and she grinned at him.

Murphy hadn’t lied about loving big dogs. He’d had a Saint Bernard growing up. Big dogs were his thing. He’d been more than ready to have a big lab move into his house.

But, when Octavia and her brother arrived with her things on move-in day, Helios the big red dog was bigger than he expected.

A lot bigger.

“I thought you said you told him,” Bellamy commented as Murphy stared up at Helios—way, _way_ up. “O, you said you warned him.”

“I did!” Octavia insisted. “I told him he was big!”

“You didn’t seriously use the word _big_ , did you?” her brother huffed. “Jesus, Octavia.”

“That’s your dog?” Murphy said, as soon as he’d regained the ability to think. “That’s Helios?”

At the sound of his name, the big red dog’s face swung down towards Murphy, and suddenly a nose bigger than his head was sniffing all over his body. Murphy froze, unsure whether the giant dog was planning to eat him or not.

But something about him must’ve smelled right because then a tongue bigger than he was was licking a stripe up him from his toes to his head.

“Helios,” Octavia scolded, and somehow managed to drag her dog away from him. “Don’t lick people. You know it’s rude.”

Murphy wiped dog slobber from his eyes, wondering when he was going to wake up from this bizarre dream where his new roommate’s dog was bigger than his house.

“Sorry,” Bellamy said, and Murphy turned to look at him. He offered him a sheepish smile. “Octavia swore she told you about him.”

“It’s fine,” Murphy said, his gaze returning to the dog. Helios had flopped over on his back on Murphy’s front lawn, and Octavia was standing up on her toes so she could scratch him under the chin. “She didn’t technically lie. And I like big dogs.”

Bellamy stared at him for a moment, then laughed. “Alright, then,” he said, then turned back to his sister. “Octavia! Help carry your things in!”

Eventually the shock of Helios’ size wore off. Or, well, it didn’t _really_ wear off. It was still a shock every time Murphy walked out to grab another box of Octavia’s stuff and he saw the giant dog, or whenever he glanced out a window and a giant eyeball was staring back. But he was getting used to it. Sort of.

By the time Bellamy left, his house almost looked like Octavia had lived there for more than a day. Her pictures and throw pillows and knick-knacks were all over the living room, her lactose free ice cream was in the freezer, and Helios’ many bags of dog food were piled in the third, otherwise empty bedroom.

He officially had a roommate.

It was weird.

Cooking dinner for two, though, was less weird than he would have thought. He usually ended up making way too much food anyway, so all it meant would be less leftovers.

He was just finishing up when he heard a dragging noise, so he left the kitchen to investigate.

“What are you doing?” he asked Octavia, watching her drag an oversized bag of dog food towards the back door.

“Feeding Helios,” she said, and maybe it should’ve been obvious.

He watched her drag it out the back door, startling only slightly as the big red dog bounded over, skidding to a stop just feet away from crashing into the house.

“Sit,” Octavia commanded, and the dog complied, sitting down so hard and suddenly that the force shook the ground as far away as Murphy stood. “Good boy, Helios. Now wait.”

Murphy watched Octavia drag the kiddie pool Bellamy had deposited in the backyard closer to the door, and then she cut open the bag of dogfood and upended the entire contents into the pool.

“That’s a lot of food,” Murphy pointed out uselessly, watching an alarmingly large drop of drool gather at the corner of Helios’ mouth.

“He’s a big dog,” Octavia said, just as uselessly, then took a step back before clapping her hands. “Okay, Helios!”

Helios was on the pool of food before Murphy could blink, and then he was following Octavia back into the house, listening to the deafening sound of Helios’ chewing.

They dug into their own food, sitting in silence for a few minutes.

“You can ask.”

Murphy glanced up at Octavia, who was watching him with amusement clear on her face.

“What?”

“You can ask about him,” Octavia repeated, twisting her spaghetti around her fork. “I know you’re wondering.”

“Okay.” Murphy swallowed his bite. “How the fuck did you end up with a giant ass dog?”

Octavia snorted, shoveling her forkful of spaghetti into her house. 

“He wasn’t this big when I got him,” she told him through his mouthful. “Believe it or not, Helios was actually the runt of the litter.”

“No shit,” Murphy muttered, and that got him a laugh.

“Well, he was,” Octavia assured him. “My mom got him for me for my birthday when I turned eleven, a few months before she died, and he was tiny. Like, he could fit in the palm of my hand. And I was eleven, so my hands were pretty small.” She paused, taking another bite. “Mom said they just gave him to her. They weren’t expecting him to live long, he was so tiny, so she got him for free.”

“How’d he get so big then?” Murphy asked. He chose not to comment on the dead mom thing. You didn’t comment on that if someone brushed it over. He figured she’d talk about it if and when she wanted to, and hoped she’d give him the same courtesy. “Because obviously he lived longer than they expected.”

“Obviously,” Octavia agreed. Then she shrugged. “We don’t really know why or how he got so big. Bellamy used to tell me it was because I loved him so much and my love made him grow, but I’m pretty sure that’s bullshit.”

Murphy snorted. “Right,” he agreed. “Because I’ve met Bellamy, and he’s a normal sized person. So either your powers are bullshit, or you don’t love your brother.”

“Exactly,” Octavia laughed. “And I love him, so that theory’s out the window.” She gestured at the back window with her fork, where they could see part of Helios as he rolled on his back on the lawn. “But yeah. He just started growing and never stopped. Well, I mean, he stopped eventually, but he definitely grew a little more than he should’ve.”

Murphy smirked at her. “Just a little bit?” he asked, and she shrugged.

And that was that.

He did, actually, get used to Helios’ size. It took a few weeks, but it eventually became normal that there would be a dog looking at him over the roof of his house when he got home.

He got used to Octavia, too. He got used to the way she kept the French doors to the backyard open most of the time so Helios could rest his nose inside the door and hear them when they talked to her. He got used to the dishes she left everywhere, and the way she left her underwear hanging on his drying rack. He got used to not walking around the house naked, because there was another person here who could see, and he got used to the compost pile they’d started in the back corner of his yard for Octavia’s side job of selling Helios’ shit for fertilizer.

He got used to Octavia.

But he also didn’t.

She’d been drunk the first time they’d met, and while that definitely kept him from acting on anything, it didn’t keep him from noticing that she was hot. The fact that she occasionally walked around in just her underwear didn’t help, and the fact that he was around her literally all the time meant that he’d gotten to know her enough to know that this stupid crush went a bit deeper than just thinking she was hot.

But he couldn’t do anything about it for so many reasons. 

The first was that they were not only roommates, but he was technically her landlord, too. If something went sideways, that whole situation would go to shit.

The second was that Bellamy was objectively terrifying. He dropped by every once in a while, and, while he was nice and Murphy liked him, he’d heard the stories Monty and Jasper told about Octavia’s high school boyfriends’ encounters with her brother. He didn’t want to be added to the list of casualties.

And perhaps the most pressing reason was that Octavia was definitely out of his league.

“It’s just never gonna happen, is it?” he asked Helios. He’d made a habbit of taking the dog for walks when he got home from school. He still hadn’t gotten over seeing the double takes everyone made when they passed in the park. Definitely made a day of sitting in lectures more than worth it. “I should just get over my stupid crush and move on, right?”

Helios huffed and nudged his shoulder with his nose, sending Murphy stumbling.

“Thanks,” he told the dog, even if he didn’t know if that meant he should give up or keep the flame going. He reached up and scratched under Helios’ chin. “Appreciate it.”

“The library sucks,” Raven complained, stretching back over her chair to crack her back. “I need snacks. What do you say we take this study party to someone’s house?”

“I have snacks,” Miller offered, already packing up his stuff. “Actually, I might not. I need to go grocery shopping.”

Murphy snorted. “I have snacks,” he assured them. “We went grocery shopping yesterday. I also have a dog. Well, technically my roommate has a dog, but, like, he’s at my house.”

“Yes!” Raven declared, slamming shut her textbook. “Murphy’s house it is!”

“It has been way too long since I’ve seen a dog,” Miller agreed, and that was that.

Murphy texted Octavia on the bus ride home so she wouldn’t be shocked that there were other people in the house.

“So what kind of dog do you have?” Raven asked, hitching her backpack up on her shoulders as they walked from the bus stop. “Is it big?”

Murphy laughed. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Helios is definitely big. He’s a lab.”

“Labs aren’t _that_ big,” Miller countered, and Murphy shrugged.

“Helios is,” he assured him.

Helios being as big as he was meant his ears were also bigger and worked better, so, at the sound of his name, Murphy heard the telltale sound of the dog jumping up from a nap from down the road. He watched his classmates as Helios leaped over the house and landed on the road, the ground shaking under their feet.

“Holy fucking shit,” Miller shrieked, and Raven took a stumbling step back.

Helios was running towards them, tail sending the branches on the trees swinging wildly in its breeze, shaking the ground with every step.

“Helios,” Murphy warned, and the dog stopped, dropping to the ground in front of them and rolling over onto his back, tongue lolling from the side of his mouth. Murphy took a step towards him, reaching out to scratch his head, hand sinking into soft red fur. “Good boy.”

This was another thing that Murphy loved about Helios. Sure, taking him for walks and watching people do double takes was great. But bringing people home was even better. He figured out pretty quickly exactly why Octavia hadn’t told him exactly how big Helios was before he’d met him. Sure, she was probably a little wary that if he’d know just how big her dog was, he might not have agreed to let her move in.

But he also knew that wasn’t the biggest reason she hadn’t told him, because Octavia never told anyone how big Helios really was. And neither did Murphy, because, when people actually did meet Helios, like Miller and Raven were doing right now, it was absolutely hilarious.

Maybe it said something about Murphy that his stupid crush on Octavia got a little bit bigger whenever he saw her grin and heard her laugh at the expense of some poor soul they’d tricked into getting terrified by their dog. Her dog. Whatever.

“ _This_ is your dog?” Raven asked, incredulous. Her hand stretched out so she could tentatively pet Helios as well.

“My roommate’s dog, yeah,” Murphy corrected. “This is Helios.”

“This isn’t a dog,” Miller countered, coming closer and digging his hands into Helios’ fur. “You’re sure he’s not gonna eat us?”

Murphy snorted. “I don’t think Helios would like the taste of you,” he pointed out, then gestured at the dog. “Hey. Up. Let’s go home.”

Helios rolled over and bounded off, jumping back over the house into the backyard, and Murphy followed after, realizing after a few minutes that his friends weren’t following.

“What?” he asked, turning around and walking backwards. “I told you he was big.”

They were “studying” in the backyard when Octavia got home, if studying encompassed eating nachos and watching Miller try to play tug of war with Helios and his oversized rope.

“Is no one gonna help me?” Miller wanted to know, and Murphy laughed leaning back in his lawn chair.

“No one told you you had to do this,” Raven called back, shaking her head. “You’re on your own.” She reached out with her foot, kicking Murphy in the shin. “Pass the nachos.”

“Nachos without me?” Octavia asked, dropping into a free chair. “That’s not fair.”

“Well, if you’d gotten here earlier, maybe there would be more left,” Murphy sniped back, but was already getting up to throw some more nachos in the oven. It was for purely selfish reasons—he wanted more nachos himself, and, perhaps more importantly, he wanted to be out of the danger zone at whatever point Helios realized his mom was back and bowled down the patio set to get to her. The fact that Octavia wanted nachos wasn’t even remotely in line with his motives for getting them. Not at all.

The thud and screams a few seconds later made him think he’d gotten out just in time.

By the time he came back out with another round of nachos, Helios had left to nap on the lawn and Miller had joined Raven and Octavia at the patio table.

“We should probably study,” Miller pointed out, even as he took the tray of nachos from Murphy. “Isn’t that what we came here for?”

“Who needs studying when we have nachos?” Raven wondered, slapping Murphy on the arm as he sunk down in the seat next to her. “If you keep making these, I think I’m gonna have to marry you.”

Murphy snorted and rolled his eyes, and helped himself to the nachos.

“How was school?” he asked Octavia, who almost jumped as her gaze turned on him.

“It was fine,” she said, and then stopped talking, taking more nachos and scowling at the table.

Murphy stared at his roommate for a second, wondering why she was being weird. Octavia loved new people—she’d actually told him that once. Maybe it was something about Miller and Raven specifically that she didn’t like? Or maybe she was just mad that she wasn’t here for Helios’ _big_ reveal? If it was that, it was on her. He’d texted. She’d had more than enough time to catch the same bus back that they had.

“So,” Raven said through a mouthful of nachos. “Murphy says Helios eats, like, two bags of food a day. How do you even afford that?”

Octavia glanced up, her gaze turning on Raven like she was being put out. “I have a grant,” she said, which was the first Murphy had heard of it.

“What?” he asked, leaning forward and laughing. “Since when?”

Octavia’s gaze turned back on him, and she seemed to relax a little. “Well, technically it’s not _my_ grant,” she allowed. “By the time he started getting big, Bellamy was already dating Clarke. She was still in vet school then, and she did her thesis or her dissertation or something like that on Helios. She got grant money to study him and see if she could find out why he was so big. No one could actually figure it out, and technically he’s an ongoing research project, so she still gets grant money for it. Other than paying for checkups at the vet, most of it goes to dog food.”

“That’s hilarious,” Murphy declared, and Octavia shrugged. “We have a science experiment dog.”

“ _We_ don’t have anything,” she pointed out. “Helios is my dog. And he’s not a science experiment. Technically.”

Raven and Miller tried to goad more Helios stories out of Octavia, but, unlike usual, Octavia didn’t really seem to be into bragging about her giant dog. It was weird. Helios was usually Octavia’s favourite thing to talk about. Clearly whatever was bothering her was still bothering her, but Murphy didn’t really have time to concentrate on it when most of his time had to be spent trying to stop Raven from stealing all the nachos from his plate.

By the time Raven and Miller left, they never actually did get around to studying. Murphy wasn’t sure whether they left because their excuses were actually valid or if Octavia’s cold shoulder had just gotten frosty enough for them to not be able to handle it anymore.

So they left and Octavia slammed Helios’ bag of food around as she dragged it through the house.

“What is your problem today?” Murphy asked, and Octavia scowled at him.

“I don’t have a problem,” she countered, punctuating her statement by very violently stabbing a knife into the dog food bag. “I’m fine.”

“Sure,” Murphy agreed, hoping Octavia could tell from his tone that he didn’t actually believe it.

He went about making dinner—just for himself, because if Octavia was insisting on being in a mood then she could make her own dinner and he’d keep the leftovers for himself—and Octavia stayed outside with Helios for a while.

“So.”

He turned around from the stove, raising an eyebrow at Octavia, who was leaning too casually against the doorframe.

“What?” he asked her, turning back to the frying pan.

“You and Raven,” Octavia hedged, and Murphy had to look back at her again. “You’re a thing?”

Murphy laughed. “Why?” he asked. “Because she wants to marry me for my nachos? Newsflash, Octavia. _Everyone_ wants to marry me for my nachos.”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Seriously,” she said, kicking her foot back against the wall. “I think she’s into you. You gonna do anything about it?”

“Sure,” Murphy said, snorting. “I am definitely gonna do something about it. I’m sure her girlfriend will be _thrilled_.”

“She has a girlfriend?” Octavia repeated, suddenly looking a lot less pissed off. Weird. “That’s cool.”

“Yeah,” Murphy agreed slowly, turning back to stir his concoction in the frying pan. “Super cool. Miller’s got a boyfriend, by the way. Since you’re taking stock of my friends’ relationship statuses.”

“Ha, ha,” Octavia said, sounding out her fake laugh as she crossed the kitchen. “If I make a salad, can I have some of that?”

“Sure,” Murphy agreed, confused at Octavia’s sudden change in demeaner. “But not if you put any tomatoes in it.”

It was nice out, so Murphy had taken his laptop and his textbooks out to the backyard, leaning back against Helios’ side as he worked. It was like having a giant, breathing, warm pillow, and had quickly become his favourite place to study.

The fact that being in the backyard meant he could avoid Octavia was just a bonus and definitely not a reason he was out here.

Since the first time he’d brought Raven and Miller over, Octavia had gotten along much better with them. Whatever issue she’d had had been cleared up. Murphy still couldn’t figure out what had rubbed Octavia wrong, but he’d pushed it out of his mind.

He wasn’t even supposed to be home tonight. He was supposed to be over at Miller’s, distracting himself with Mario Kart and junk food.

But Miller’s boyfriend’s parents had come for a surprise visit that weekend, so their plans had been cancelled and Murphy had been regulated to hiding out in the backyard with the dog.

Not that he was hiding out.

He was so caught up in staring at the blank Word document he should have been writing his essay on that he didn’t notice Octavia had come out of the house until Helios was running to greet her, sending Murphy and his supplies tumbling to the ground.

“You good?” Octavia called across the yard, and Murphy made a face as he sat up.

“Fine,” he assured her, and then made the mistake of looking over.

Octavia looked hot on a regular day, and Murphy had accepted the fact that he had a bit of a stupid crush on her.

But he’d never actually seen her ready to go out on a date before.

She was dressed in a sparkly purple shirt with a leather jacket over top. In her regular jeans, it wasn’t that different from what she usually wore. But she’d definitely taken more care, and she’d curled her hair and put on eyeliner and—fuck. Okay. Maybe this might be a little more than a stupid crush.

“What?” Octavia asked, and Murphy realized he might have been staring a little.

“Just wondering what’s wrong with your face,” he said, cringing inwardly even as the words came out of his mouth.

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Fuck off,” she said, then pet Helios on the side of the leg one last time. “Anyway. I just came out to let you know I was leaving. Atom’s out front. I’ll be back later.”

“Coolio,” Murphy said, sending finger guns her way from where he was still sitting in the grass. “Roger that. Let me know if you need someone to swoop in and save the day, and I’ll see if I can find someone who’s available.”

_Why couldn’t he shut up?_

“Sure,” Octavia agreed, staring at him like she was wondering what was wrong with him. He was also wondering. “Sounds good. Bye.”

He watched her walk through the house, wondering whether the fact that she wasn’t introducing this Atom guy to Helios meant that she was serious about this date or not serious at all, and then flopped onto his back on the lawn with a sigh.

Helios mimed his movements, rolling over onto his back, and one of his ears landed on top of Murphy. He pushed it down off his face, idly musing that this felt nice and maybe he should consider investing in a weighted blanket, and stared up at the sky.

“It’s just us now, bud,” Murphy said to Helios, scratching the dog’s ear. “She’s leaving us forever.”

The buzzing of his phone woke him, and Murphy yawned as he stretched out, trying to remember why he was on the couch.

His phone buzzed again, and he fished it out from where it had slipped between the cushions. He squinted in the blinding light, and, when his eyes adjusted, he was met with a string of texts from Octavia.

_Help!_

_He’s been mansplaining my major to me for an hour._

_I can’t do this._

_I’m gonna fight him. I’m gonna fucking fight him._

_I don’t have a car, Murphy. He drove me. I can’t just leave._

_You need to come pick me up before I punch his face in._

_He sucks so much. Please, Murphy. I’ll do anything. I will owe you forever._

A quick glance at the clock on his phone told him it wasn’t actually as late as Murphy had expected it to be, and Octavia hadn’t actually been gone for that long.

There was a part of him that was happy that Octavia’s date wasn’t going well, but that was an asshole part of him he was going to ignore.

There was still a problem, though, no matter how much he might want to do the right thing and swoop in and be the hero who saved Octavia from her bad date.

_I don’t have a car._

The dots that said Octavia was responding popped up right away, like she was holding her phone under the table waiting for his response. He wasn’t gonna lie. That thought made him feel pretty good.

 _You have Helios_ , her next text pointed out, and Murphy figured that was a good point.

 _Text me the address,_ he sent back, and got a string of heart emojis that he definitely wasn’t gonna read into.

Murphy was definitely riding a high as well as a giant dog when he pulled Helios to a stop outside of the restaurant. Helios barked once, loudly, and then complied as Murphy urged him to lay down so he could slide off.

A crowd had gathered on the sidewalk by the time Octavia and Atom came out of the restaurant to see what the fuss was about, phones up as they captured proof of the big red dog that was taking up three parking spaces.

"What the hell?" Atom said, eyes wide.

“Murphy?” Octavia said, grinning, leather jacket swung over her shoulder.

Murphy reached up to run a hand through his hair, only for it to get caught in the tangles that came from riding a dog at 80km an hour down the highway. The wind had felt great, but he could only imagine what his hair looked like.

He brushed off any thoughts of his hair as he smirked at Octavia, straightening up as he prepared to work it for the cameras. Helios was definitely going on, like, TikTok or whatever, which meant he was also going on TikTok. He was gonna make his fifteen seconds of fame count.

“They were out of white horses,” he declared, throwing his arms wide. “Had to take the red dog instead.”

“Were they out of shining armour, too?” Octavia asked, stepping away from Atom and gesturing down at his sweatpants and hoodie.

“Shut up,” Murphy told her, dropping his arms. “Helios and I can go home without you, if you’re so offended.”

“You shut up,” Octavia countered, taking a step toward him.

Murphy wouldn’t have shut up, because Murphy didn’t know _how to_ shut up, but suddenly the decision was made for him.

Before he could even come up with an adequate response, Octavia’s arms were wrapped around him and her lips were on his.

His brain had shut down but, thankfully, the rest of him wasn’t as he tugged her even closer, eyes falling shut as he kissed her like his life depended on it.

(Atom might have said something along the lines of _what the fuck_ but Murphy couldn't bring himself to pay any attention to anything that wasn't Octavia.)

It was over as fast as it had began, and Octavia was taking a step back, watching him with a look he couldn’t read in her eyes.

“Well?” she said, and he didn’t know how she was functioning enough to speak. “Are we riding off into the sunset on the big red dog or what?”

“The sun already set,” Murphy pointed out, which was dumb but, like, at least it was words.

Octavia rolled her eyes and stepped further away, climbing up onto Helios, and Murphy followed.

They didn’t say anything until they made it back to the house. It was kind of hard to talk, though, when the dog was running so fast and all he could hear was the wind in his ears and the way too fast beating of his heart.

He slipped down off the dog in the front yard, and paused for just a second before heading into the house. Octavia followed then went out back, settling Helios in for the night, as Murphy paced inside the living room and tried to figure out what he was supposed to do.

Because what _was_ he supposed to do? Octavia had kissed him. She’d kissed _him._ And he was just supposed to be cool with that? Was it for the cameras? Was it to make the TikToks better? Had she meant it? Was he supposed to just, like, _know_?”

“Murphy?”

He jumped at the sound of his name, spinning around to stare at her.

“Yo,” he said, wishing he could just shut up. “Sup, man?”

Octavia raised a brow, looking like she wanted to start laughing. “Sup, man?” she repeated. “That’s what you have to say?”

“Yes?” he said slowly. “No? I don’t—do you want to talk about it? Should we talk about it? I feel like we should—”

“Murphy,” Octavia repeated, laughing. She crossed the space between them, coming a little too close, close enough that his breath caught in his throat. “We could talk about it, if you want. Or we could do this.”

And then she was stretching up, further into his space until their lips were connecting again. She kissed him just long enough for him to melt into it, for his hands to rise on their own to start wrapping around her.

And then she pulled back again, smirking at him.

“Or, you know, we could talk about it.”

Murphy snorted. “Shut up,” he told her, and then kissed her again.

By the next morning, Helios the Big Red Dog was trending all over the internet. Other than everything that had happened last night with Octavia, going viral was definitely the proudest moment of Murphy’s life.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!!
> 
> Comments and kudos water my crops and feed my soul!
> 
> Check out the collection for more Troped fics!


End file.
